Tanelli, Herbst upend top-ranked wrestlers for titles, Badgers place fourth

MADISON, Wis.

The Badger upsets continued in the final session of the 46th annual Midlands Championships and two UW grapplers are bringing home individual titles. No. 8 seed, and 15th-ranked, Zach Tanelli upset the No. 2 seed, and top-ranked, Alex Tsirtis from Iowa to win the 141 lbs. weight class. No. 3 Dallas Herbst then captured the second UW individual title by handing top-ranked and previously undefeated Jake Varner (Iowa State), his first loss of the season at 197 lbs. Herbst’s win also avenges his lone loss of the year, which came in a 4-0 decision during the UW vs. Iowa State dual on Nov. 21.

“They stayed aggressive, wrestled their style and didn’t make any mistakes,” UW head coach Barry Davis said on Tanelli and Herbst’s performances in the finals. “After we came back from the Cliff Keen Invite we talked with them about some things to work on and told them they had to force their will on their opponents and wrestle their style of match and we did that. By doing that, that’s how we won.”

Wisconsin also brings home two more trophies as junior Kyle Ruschell finished runner-up at 149 lbs. and true freshman Andrew Howe placed fourth at 165 lbs. As a team, Wisconsin placed fourth with 98.5 points out of 48 teams. This is Wisconsin’s best finish at Midlands since finishing second at the 1987 tournament. Iowa won the 2008 title with 156.5 points but close behind was Iowa State with 153.5 points for runner-up. Missouri placed third at 121.5 points.

“I think we did really well,” Davis said. “They’ve learned a lot and I feel pretty good right now. Again, we worked on certain things in practice and they applied that to their matches. I think we gave a great performance with a lot of big wins here.”

It took an explosive third period with five backpoints for Tanelli to notch the 10-3 victory. Tsirtis struck first with a takedown in the opening period and got out to a 3-1 lead by the end of the second period. Tanelli scored off an escape with 1:54 left in the third to pull within one point at 3-2. Tanelli rattled off seven points in the third period with a takedown and put Tsirtis on his back at the minute mark for two nearfall points to put the score at 6-3. Tanelli sealed the victory with three more nearfall points and a point for riding time. This was his first collegiate invitational title and before Midlands, Tanelli had lost three-straight matches.

Tanelli also brings home the “Champion of the Champions” award which is voted on by all the first place finishers at Midlands.

Herbst and Varner had a scoreless first period. Herbst chose to start the second period on top and Varner forced an escape with 1:39 left in the second period. Neither wrestler scored the rest of the way and Varner chose bottom in the third period. Varner kept Herbst down for a majority of the third but the Badger grappler erased Varner’s riding time and reversed him with just 34 seconds left to take the 2-1 lead. Varner came close to scoring in the final seconds but Herbst hung on for the 2-1 win and the 197 lbs. title.

Junior Kyle Ruschell had the task of wrestling top-ranked Brent Metcalf from Iowa at 149 lbs. Metcalf set the pace early and Ruschell managed just five escape points in the 14-5 major decision for the Iowa grappler. Ruschell received runner-up honors, which is his highest finish at a tournament since placing second at the 2007 Body Bar Invite at 141 lbs.

True freshman Andrew Howe faced No. 1 seed and second-ranked Moza Fay for the second time in 24 hours in the third place match at 165 lbs. Howe defeated Fay 14-8 in the quarterfinals yesterday but couldn’t get the second win and fell, 9-3. Howe finished fourth at 165 lbs., which is the best tournament finish of his young Badger career.

Junior Trevor Brandvold wrestled unattached at 197 lbs. and placed sixth after forfeiting his fifth-place match.

After two days of tough competition, the Badgers take some time off before heading to the National Duals Jan. 10-11 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Be sure to check back to UWBadgers.com for updates leading up to the duals.

By: UWBadgers.com (Original)